- Garmin, a renowned marine electronics manufacturer, unveils two new radar models, expanding its xHD3 series with advanced magnetron dome radars.
- The xHD3 dome radar series introduces groundbreaking features, including Scan Averaging, Target Size Optimization, True Echo Trails, and a rotation speed of up to 60 rpm, ensuring superior clarity and situational awareness.
- Designed for smaller vessels and sailboats, these radars provide high-resolution imagery, detection ranges of up to 48 nautical miles, and features like mini-automatic radar plotting aid (MARPA) for tracking targets and improving safety at sea.
Garmin, a leading marine electronics manufacturer, has unveiled two groundbreaking additions to its magnetron radar lineup, the GMR™ xHD3/HD3 dome radar series. These innovative radars, available in 18” and 24” models, introduce premium features designed to provide boaters, sailors, and anglers with exceptional clarity, accuracy, and situational awareness on the water. The xHD3 series offers:
- Scan Averaging: A pioneering feature for Garmin magnetron dome radar, it effectively filters sea clutter and interference, resulting in a clearer display.
- Target Size Optimization: Enhances on-screen object shapes across all range scales, achieved through pulse expansion and angular processing.
- True Echo Trails: Displays a historical “trail” of boats on the water, eliminating relative motion interference and enabling quick identification of moving targets and potential collision threats.
- Rotation Speed up to 60 rpm: This accelerates the redraw rate for faster target updates on multifunction displays (MFDs).
Garmin’s Vice President of Global Consumer Sales, Dan Bartel, expressed enthusiasm for the xHD3 dome radar series, highlighting its superior weather, obstacle, and traffic detection capabilities. Bartel stated that these radars provide mariners with unparalleled clarity and detail for enhanced peace of mind during their voyages.
Navigating with Confidence
The xHD3 series boasts a dual-range display, allowing mariners to confidently navigate regardless of the time of day or weather conditions. It enables a single radar antenna to present split-screen, side-by-side images on a compatible chartplotter, with separate settings for close and long-range views. Additionally, users can overlay radar data onto a chart view to confirm object locations on both displays.
For anglers, the xHD3 series offers an enhanced auto bird gain and a bird mode preset, facilitating the location of bird flocks on the water’s surface—a valuable indicator of potential fishing areas. These radar units operate with minimal noise, minimizing disruption to fishing targets.
Swift Redraw for Smaller Vessels
Designed specifically for smaller vessels and sailboats, the robust xHD3 dome series features a rotation speed of up to 60 rpm, significantly improving the redraw rate. This results in faster target updates and a clearer picture of the surroundings, providing mariners with high-resolution imagery and detection ranges of up to 48 nautical miles. The incorporation of mini-automatic radar plotting aid (MARPA) technology allows captains to track selected targets and monitor potential collision threats. The xHD3 radars also feature enhanced auto gain, which automatically adjusts levels for optimal performance in harbors, nearshore areas, and open waters.
Garmin’s GMR 18 xHD3 dome radar is currently available with a retail price of $1,999.99, while the GMR 24 xHD3 model retails for $2,799.99. For cost-conscious users seeking high-performance scanning, the series also includes the GMR 18 HD3 dome radar at $1,799.99. The HD3 radar offers improved target detection, dynamic auto gain, dual-radar support, and low-noise scanning, with a detection range extending from 20 meters to 36 nautical miles.
Learn more about Garmin’s extensive range of marine electronics by visiting garmin.com/marine.
